Scottish Executive

Environment

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints about noise pollution have been received by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in each of the past five years.

Rhona Brankin: The responsibilities of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency do not cover noise pollution, which is a matter for local authorities under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Any enquiries that SEPA receive on this matter are passed on to the appropriate local authority.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses affected by the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak have (a) applied for and (b) received hardship relief in relation to non-domestic rates, broken down by local authority area.

Angus MacKay: Councils are still preparing returns on hardship relief claims and therefore the data is not yet co-ordinated.

Landfill

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3500 by Malcolm Chisholm on 31 May 2001, what the nature was of the data provided by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to the Small Area Statistics Unit.

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3500 by Malcolm Chisholm on 31 May 2001, whether health boards have supplied any information to the Small Area Health Statistics Unit in connection with its study into the possible health effects of landfill sites.

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-3500 by Malcolm Chisholm on 31 May 2001, whether the Small Area Health Statistics Unit study into the possible health effects of landfill sites will report findings in respect of Scotland separately, as well as within the overall findings for Great Britain.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1W-16161 on 18 June 2001.

Multiple Sclerosis

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the number of specialist multiple sclerosis nurses.

Susan Deacon: The employment of specialist nurses is a matter for individual NHS Trusts to determine in the light of clinical needs.

  In the case of multiple sclerosis (MS) nurses, I am aware that the MS Society wrote to Trusts and health boards last November offering assistance by providing information about the needs of people with MS, by facilitating links with local MS communities, by sharing best practice, and through partnership funding of key posts and work. To this end, health boards have been asked by my officials to consider the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (SNAP) Report on Multiple Sclerosis, particularly in relation to specialist nurses and the part-funding offer that the society has made.

Planning

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action will be taken to ensure that local authorities carry out their duties and responsibilities concerning any contravention of planning permission conditions.

Lewis Macdonald: Planning authorities in Scotland have the primary responsibility for taking whatever enforcement action may be necessary, in the public interest, in their administrative area.

  Failure on the part of the planning authority to take appropriate enforcement action against a breach of planning conditions may be subject to a referral to the Commissioner for Local Administration in Scotland.

  There are no plans at present to amend these provisions.

Prison Service

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of prisoners entering Kilmarnock Prison in each year since 1997 were (a) drug abusers and (b) drug injectors.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  Precise figures of the number of drug abusers entering Scottish prisons are not available, but a prisoner survey at Kilmarnock showed that over 90% of prisoners at entry admitted to being illegal drug users.

Waste Management

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive,  further to the answer to question S1W-15699 by Rhona Brankin on 22 May 2001, how many reports on the illegal dumping of material and fly-tipping were submitted to each procurator fiscal by (a) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and (b) each local authority in each of the past two years and how many of these reports resulted in a criminal prosecution.

Rhona Brankin: Information on numbers of cases that are reported to the procurator fiscal is not held centrally in the format requested. The table gives the latest available information on the number of persons proceeded against and those with a charge proved in Scottish courts where the main offence was under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act   1990.

  


Year 
  

Persons proceeded against 
  

Persons with a charge proved 
  



1998 
  

6 
  

6 
  



1999 
  

11 
  

10 
  



  In addition, there are a small number of cases recorded on the Scottish Executive Justice Department’s court proceedings database under the general heading of control of pollution where the statute is not identified.